As the “Dotcom (“.com”) Bubble” burst in the early 2000s, incumbent telecommunication operators sought to improve their market positions by developing what came to be known as next-generation networks (NGNs). These were (and are) packet-switched networks based on Internet Protocol (IP), which allowed the operators to maintain the guaranteed quality of service common to legacy, circuit-switched voice networks, while improving efficiency, lowering costs and facilitating the introduction of new services. NGNs were designed to protect incumbents’ profitability for as long as possible. In short, they were the dam holding back the rising tide of the Internet.